Overactive Listening

You sigh,

A wind louder than hurricanes,

Surging and snatching your strength and ambition,

Willpower siphoned through weighted breath

As you speak sincerely with the last of your strength.

“Look,” you command, but my sight starts to fade.

I hear floodgates fracture, and the fear starts to flow

As I peer and am pressured by watering eyes.

I mull over the past conversations in anguish,

Belligerent words, hitting me heavily.

A low-decibel drum, bass berating my ears,

Vigoured vibrations, your voice booms through my body;

To my head, hieroglyphics, but not to my chest.

My gaze, ineffective expressions of sentiment,

Staring at nothing yet noticing all.

I can’t process the punishment.

My ears are enthralled by the whooshing of wind as you wave,

And your screams sound like screeching.

The rain of your wrath turns to ringing,

The distorting, the deafening death of our love,

But I can’t seem to focus on finding a fix.

I try licking my lips and I breathe,

But no words could be worth interrupting this storm.

Your profusion of thoughts leaves my sentence retracted;

Accusations, redacting my poise.

Bitter taste at the back of my tongue takes control.

Your perfume, once so mellow, has soured, smells putridly sweet,

With the alcohol lining my hands, overwhelming my senses.

My hands feel barren and crack as I clench them to fists,

Not through anger nor vicious intent,

But through sorrow and stress;

Anxiety, taking its toll as I anguish,

Concerns and beliefs reeling back, comments captive by fear.

Then you quiet, the room falls to silence.

My mouth gapes as I’m gasping for air,

Not a mumble escapes, not through meekness or rage.

My mind races, speech repressed, and emotions disquiet,

I stumble for something to say.

Concern is held captive by a psyche overactive;

Then the silence is broken.

A break in your breath,

As you choke,

And you chuckle,

And choke once again.

Sins do not feel absolved,

I have made no amends.

High-pitched cries, sobs, and howls, whimper,

Seeking a friend,

But the ringing was loud…

I ask. “Say that again?”